Blindness

Have you been diagnosed with pantry blindness?  Read the following piece of information and judge for yourself if you've got this syndrome.

"I'm hungry!" says darling daughter.
"Then go and get a something to eat" says mum.
"But there's nothing to eat!" whinges darling daughter.
"There's food in the pantry" says mum.
"I can't see anything to eat" complains darling daughter.
So mum gets up from her comfortable chair and opens the pantry to see bread, cereal, flour, sugar, rice, 2 minute noodles, baked beans, dried fruit, nuts, coconut, bread rolls, cup-a-soups.  But apparently theres "NO food in the pantry!".

There can be plenty of ingredients in the pantry to put something satisfying together that will fill a tummy but so often we don't "see" what's in front of us because we're looking for something else, like the packet of chips or biscuits, the chocolate bar, the instant food full of sugar and salt that is always so appealing.

I find that we also  treat the bible with a selective blindness too.   Do you find yourself going back to the same favorite parts of the bible that are easy to understand and leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside but ignore those parts that are difficult to understand and reconcile or what you'd consider "boring" or "irrelevant"?

Leviticus is a book in the bible I'll admit I wouldn't voluntarily choose to study but in taking the journey to read through the whole bible this year, I'm in the position where I can't skip over those bits in the bible that I don't enjoy so much.  So here I am reading Leviticus and although I  would still say it's a dry read, I have a growing healthy respect for it.  Here is a manual for the new nation of God on holiness.  If I was to pick out a verse that summed up the main point of Leviticus it would be, "You are holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own" (Leviticus 20:26).

I guess for us modern readers we question what's the point about reading how the Israelites were to perform the different types of sacrifices but as I read through each chapter, I'm gaining a vivid picture of how much sin was a part of the Israelites everyday existence.  From their relationship with God, to each other, their animals, crops, health  and food, God had something to say about it.  Nothing in their life was apart from God.  The worshiper was even required to kill the animal for the sacrifice and then the priest would take over and prepare the offering.  Can you imagine doing that?  Blood would go everywhere and would feel warm and sticky,  the smell would be sickening.  Visually the worshiper is observing that the consequence of their sin is death.  That's confronting!

God still calls us today to be holy and set apart for him. "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy because I am holy"." 1 Peter 2:15-16.  Holiness is not optional, it is a requirement and  not just for the Israelites in the days of Moses but for us too.  Because sin is just as an insidious and pervasive problem for us as it was for the ancient Jews.  However, through Christ the problem of sin in our hearts is dealt with.

"The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean  sanctify them so that they were outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrews 9:13-14).

Through Jesus we are made righteous, not by anything we've done but all by what Christ has done on our behalf.  Does that make you want to pray and give thanks?   It does for me.

Have a go looking at the parts in the bible that you normally avoid and see what God has to say.  You may be surprised!          

Bruised Souls

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out" 
(Isaiah 42:3)

Doesn't it hurt so much when you have an accident which leaves you with a nasty bruise that seems to change colours over the course of a couple of weeks.  Great sympathy catcher but very painful!  Can you recall one of those emotional or spiritual bruises that you've had and how it left you hurting and aching for weeks?

I remember one of those painful times during November 2007.  I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks of pregnancy.  One day I was fine and the next my life was hurled upside down.   I previously had a little girl without any trouble so I was completely rattled and shaken when I realized I was miscarring this baby.  I couldn't believe it, it felt like a very bad dream.    I longed for the baby I had lost and for the expectations I had  already had of this little one in our family.  I struggled to comprehend the life of our baby having finished. For weeks I grieved, it was a time of "bruising" on my soul. But a  friend who had been through several miscarriages lent me her book "The Deep Place where Nobody Goes" by Jill Briscoe.  Through reading Jill's honest conversations with God,  I noticed the Lord was gently and tenderly mending my bruises.  As I read Jill's book, there was a poem she had written inspired by the verse from Isaiah 42:3 that moved me.

Bruised but never broken,
Down but not destroyed,
Battered by life's problems,
Sick or unemployed:
Struggling with a marriage -
Rejected we might be -
Bruised but never broken,
His promise is for me.

Darkness all around:
Faith with doubt is drowned.
May nail-pierced hands surround me,
The breath of God breathe low -
My little light flare upwards
And set my life aglow!

He heals the broken-hearted,
He sets the prisoner free,
Those desperate for forgiveness,
For hope and empathy.
He touches strengthens, comforts,
And turns their lives about,
Bruised but never broken,
Dim but never out!

As Jill puts it, sitting on the steps of my soul in the deep place where nobody goes, was where God held me as I cried and grieved but through that time He gently healed the deep bruising on my soul.

Life is not easy and we sometimes are left feeling bruised from it.  But the Lord doesn't abandon us, he suffers with us and is here waiting to comfort and tend to the hurting of our souls.  Jesus understands, he endured and suffered the cross.   I encourage you if you are feeling spiritual "bruised" to take time out and spend it sitting with the Lord.  Speak in open honesty in your conversations with Him, trusting your heart and soul in his gentle hand.  He will mend your heart and bring you back to fullness.

"You hem me in - behind and before;
 You have laid your hand upon me."
 (Psalm 139:5)

Quotes (pages 69-70) taken from The Deep Place Where Nobody Goes.  Conversations with God on the steps of my soul. Author: Jill Briscoe.  Copyright 2005. 

Living like you mean it!

Last weekend we visited my in-laws for a birthday catch up.  They have a large gravel driveway and with the recent rain, it had developed some substantial puddles.  It took up to 10am on Saturday morning before the girls were inexplicably drawn to the puddles.  Within seconds they were wildly running through them.  And in a few minutes they were covered from head to toe in muddy water as was Uncle Michael's car!  It was such a beautiful moment of pure bliss in the eyes of Jessica and Emily.  Completely unaware of the issues around their little lives they simply enjoyed the moments pleasure of splashing water and having the sensation of sloppy gravel squelch between their toes.  How I wished I could learn to live in the moment too instead of rushing off to get my next job done.  Can you relate?

I see this truth in the book of Acts.  As the Apostles fearlessly preached the good news of Jesus, it spread profusely through people's hearts  and across the nations. When Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Antioch in Pisidia, the people's response was, "When the non-Jewish outsiders heard this, they could hardly believe their good fortune.  All who were marked out for real life put their trust in God - they honoured God's Word by receiving that life.  And this Message of salvation spread like wildfire all through the region". (Acts 13:48-49, The Message).

New believers in Christ are witness of 'living like you mean it'.  They are so full of the Holy Spirit and brimming with joy and excitement of finding and accepting the truth of Jesus in their life that you can't help but be warmed and touched by their love and awe of God.  What an amazing experience it would have been for the first Apostles watching hundreds of people being transformed as they accepted Jesus as Christ.  To live in that moment would have been extraordinary.  But those moments were not just for the early church, they are for us too.

I remember when I became a Christian.  After having been lead through Christianity Explained through a person of Student Life at The University of Queensland, I was attending a service at Caboolture Uniting Church when a visiting minister called for anyone who wanted to believe to come to the front.  It was time.  Years of God whispering to me a had come to this moment and on shaking legs and with a racing heart, I found myself getting up from my seat and out the front.  I was the only one who had come out.  The minister lead me in my prayer to accept Jesus into my life.  And as soon as I did I was overwhelmed by the Spirit.  It was a profound and amazing experience for me.  I will never forget that rush and joy of making that decision and I am always thankful to God for his love and grace.

I know that many of you that you don't have a definite moment that you can say that's when you became a Christian or the process in becoming a Christian was very gradual.  But perhaps you can recall a moment of re-dedication to God or a time when you felt the close presence of God that was pivotal to you.  What was that experience like for you?  Did it get you fired up for God? 

As the years go on I have often forgotten that sense of awe, wonder and love of God I had at first.  I had forgotten to live life like I mean it and to live it for God.  Do you feel the same?  Pray with me in asking God to give us renewed hearts and passion for him.



Dear God,
You are the eternal God, all honor and glory are yours.  Because of your great love for me you gave your son Jesus to die in my place for my sins.  You endured the suffering of the cross so that I might live and have eternal life through faith in Jesus.  Forgive my hard heart that is so easily lured away from you and for the subtle ways I try to control my life.  Please give me a longing to be with you and to read your word with renewed passion. By your Spirit, transform my thinking and habits so that it falls in step with your will.  Guide me in your ways that I would serve you and build others in faith.  Teach me to keep my eyes on you and not on myself.  Thank you for loving me.  Amen.